In the News: You Got Tax Questions? We Got Answers!

Posted by James Schiavone on Mar 22, 2013

It’s been more than a month since my
(legendary?) first post of this tax season and there has
been a ton of recent media coverage. In my second tax season post, I’ll share a
few articles for those of you who haven’t filed yet. In addition, I promise to
throw in some good information for people who have their refunds already and
are just rubbernecking.

Once again this year, members of the
AICPA are using their expertise to answer one daily tax question from USA TODAY
readers and help the public understand how to approach some common filing
issues.

Thus far, readers have asked questions
regarding the requirements for claiming adult children as dependents and how to
handle the tax implications of rolling over an IRA.

CNBC
spoke to Mackey McNeill, CPA/PFS, on some things last minute tax filers (and
there are a lot of you out there!) can do at this late stage of the game to lower their 2012 tax burden.

Those
who are self-employed can cut their tax
bills using Simplified Employee Pension plan retirement accounts. "You get
a current tax deduction and save for your retirement," McNeill explains.

McNeill advises her self-employed
clients to put away at least 30 percent of their gross income to allow them to
fund things like retirement accounts. The reason? Not saving regularly "is
the number one reason people don't take advantage of their tax
deductions," she says.

When I think of tax season, it is through the prism
of an individual, rather than a business. But I know businesses have to contend
with filing their taxes as well. In fact, according to the National Small
Business Association, 64% of business owners spent more than 40 hours per week
last year dealing with federal taxes.

A Street.com
article notes that ”the American Institute of
CPAs rides to the rescue with tax tips designed
to make life easier for entrepreneurs and business owners.” With the AICPA’s
over 386,000 members – that’s a pretty big horse

The
tips featured in the article include:

Not
claiming deductions that exceed your income for
more than one year, which is a red flag for the IRS.

Not
holding back on paying payroll taxes in order to finance business operations, which may cause the IRS to go
after the business owner’s personal assets to collect the unpaid payroll taxes.

Keeping
close track of expenses so it will be less intimidating to prepare your return and easier
to identify all legitimate business costs if you have a log that’s up-to-date
and detailed.